HPB Minutes 2014-1014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

4. A Discussion by City Attorney Hans Ottinot regarding the Status of the B'nai Zion Temple's Lawsuit with the City. Action: City Attorney Ottinot reported noting,that the"Settlement Agreement and Release" for the B'nai Zion Temple's lawsuit was already distributed. He said it was in 2010 when this matter came before the Board for an historic designation. After the decision was made to designate B'nai Zion Temple as historic, the owner of the Temple appealed that decision to the City Commission, and the City Commission affirmed the decision made by the Historic Preservation Board. After that decision, on behalf of the owner, his attorney filed a Federal Lawsuit in Federal Court alleging discrimination. Three(3)of the present members of the Board were deposed in that lawsuit and their depositions were 3 to 4 hours long. It was a good experience with respect to the decision made because we reached a settlement in that case. The settlement was reached between the City and the Temple's representative. He reported what it took to get to that settlement. First when that lawsuit was filed he and Co-Counsel were able to initially get the case dismissed as the case was premature. The Temple appealed that dismissal to the second highest Court in the Circuit which is the Circuit Court of Appeals, and they made a decision that they did not agree with the lower court. They said the case was ripe for the Judge to review and that it would probably go to a jury trial. The Case came back to the Judge and we spent a good two (2) years on discovery, depositions, arguments, and he has seven (7) boxes of documents from that case and that case is at least four(4)years old. Eventually, the Mayor was sued in his personal capacity, and we were able to diminish the plaintiffs case by getting the Mayor dismissed from the case on a term called"qualified immunity". For example, if you make a decision here in your official capacity as the Board and someone sues you as a member of this Board, that is qualified immunity because it was done in your official capacity. Eventually through discovery, all the witnesses, the Temple's representative made a lot of allegations that were not true. One allegation was that they claimed the Temple was adjacent to City Hall. They also claimed that the City had interest in this because the City wanted to buy the property. One of the witnesses was a former employee of the City, Robert Solera. There were previous allegations made which were refuted by Mr. Solera in his deposition. And so their case was weak, and at the end of discovery they realized that, and so did the Judge. The Judge called a court ordered mediation where both parties follow the Judge's instructions. We had one mediation in January 2013 for two days but that did not work out. Three months ago the Judge ordered a different mediator by the name of Robert Josefsberg, a well known and respected attorney here in Miami-Dade County. We spent two(2)days in session both ending at midnight, in which the mediator, the City Manager, the City Mayor, and the City's insurance representative, including the Temple's own representatives, all attended. Eventually the parties were able to reach a mutual beneficial agreement. City Attorney Ottinot said the terms of that Settlement Agreement are: 1) most importantly,this Board's decision to designate that property as"historic"will remain forever,and under our Code, the only way to change that designation is by the Historic Preservation Board,only the Board can designate or un-designate a property. 2)No taxpayer's funds were used for the settlement. The City's insurance carrier agreed to settle the Temple's claim for$175,000 which includes fees and costs. This settlement amount was far less than what the Temple spent in attorney's fees and costs, given the amount of paperwork that was accumulated in this case. 3) The City permitted the Temple to transfer development rights, which all properties in the City have development rights. We believe we want the Temple to remain as it is. We allowed them to take 15,000 square feet of floor area and five (5) dwelling units to sell to whoever they want to. Generally Summary Minutes: 2014-1014 HPB Mtg Page 2 of 8